Survival in the Forest
by OrangeNinjaAttack
Summary: Gale and Katniss go off to live in the forest. They make preparations for their families to live safely for years. What problems will Gale and Katniss find in the forest beyond D12? Rated T for use of swears and much influence of violence and other would-be R-rated movie themes. R&R!
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: Now, I know that I'm a genius, but compared to Suzanne Collins, I'm nothing, because I DON'T OWN THE HUNGER GAMES):  
A/N: This is a 'book' of my trilogy, The Survival Trilogy. It's the Kale one. Just, like, so you guys know. Thanks to everyone for reading, here are some virtual golden arrows for you! By the way for all you oblivious people, italicized means from the book directly.  
Thanks to my official Beta readers, **maggiemoo1113**. How could Gale get that idea in the first place without you? 3

"_We could do it, you know," Gale says quietly._

"_What?" I ask._

"_Leave the district. Run off. Live in the woods. You and I, we could make it," says Gale._

_I don't know how to respond. This idea is so preposterous._

"Let's try it," Gale begs.

"But what about the others? You know that Prim is a little duck afraid of her own shadow," I say.

"Rory can handle it. We can go through this reaping, then I can start to teach Rory how to hunt. And then Rory can teach Vick when he's old enough," he concludes.

I can tell he's been thinking about this for a while.

"So we'll just grow old in the wilderness?" I ask scornfully.

"I thought you didn't want to get married, didn't want to have kids," he says the same way.

"I don't!"

"Then why don't we try it? We could survive at the lake. There's water. We have a source for getting food. Heck, I could show Rory where the lake is so that if they need help we can help them. Come on, Catnip. It could be fun!" He says, off in a sort of dream land.

This is ridiculous.

But he's right.

Rory could be capable of himself.

Prim and my mother could make money, become the secondary doctors of the district.

"I don't know," I say warily. "What about that red-headed girl?"

I could tell I'd found the knot in the rope.

"Well, we could, umm, let's solve that when we get to it, okay?" he says, realizing I'm right. "Just think of all the possibilities! No more reapings. No more wondering if we'll make it through the next week. No more Peacekeepers."

"But our trades! The mayor will wonder why he doesn't get any more squirrels or strawberries, and then he'll call the Peacekeepers."

"We'll be long gone by then."

"How do you know?"

"So optimistic! Why can't you just trust me for once?" he bursts out.

"Okay, fine. We leave exactly 150 days from today, the 74th annual Hunger Games reaping. You promise to teach Rory, and possibly Vick, how to hunt. I promise to stock up money for our families. Deal?" I said.

"Good. Deal," he says happily.

"One question. How long have you been thinking of this?" I ask.

"Since about the time we became partners." He says calmly.

Well, I thought it would've been a little shorter than that. Hm.

"Let's go then! Don't want to be late for Prim and Rory's first reaping!" He says in a mock-Capital accent.

"And may the odds be ever in your favour!" I say, standing up and stretching.

_At the reaping:_

"Ladies first!" Effie Trinket all but shouts cheerfully. She digs around in the bucket, grabs it, then puts it back. I sigh in relief. I could practically see my name on that one. "Ashlee Boivin!"

I sigh again, and hear the same noise throughout the crowd of girls.

A slight young girl walks to the stage, tripping over a rock, scraping her knee, and she starts to cry right next to the 12 year old girls' section. Of course, Prim comes out and tries to comfort her. The things my little duck does.

Ashlee gets up and walks the rest of the distance to the stage. She's obviously a townie, and looks to be about 15 years old.

"Welcome, Ashlee! Gentlemen!" You could hear a pin drop. "Marquis Ebenshade!"

A tall, muscular 18 year old walks to the stage. He's tan, and he obviously lifts something heavy for his job, because he looks absolutely menacing. He seems as if he might've volunteered if he wasn't picked. Looks like D12 might have a winner this year.

(Marquis Ebenshade ends up being the victor, so the district has plenty of food. Katniss and Gale have been stockpiling some to help feed the families after they leave.)

_Exactly 75 days later, in the Woods:_

"Hey, Catnip," Gale says, sneaking up behind me as I let go of my arrow.

"Really, Gale? That's the first mountain lion I've ever seen, and now it's gone!" I whisper in hope that the big cat hasn't left.

"Relax, it's still there. And besides, what would you do with something so big, anyways?" I'm surprised to realize that it was Rory I was talking to.

"Rory. How's the training?" I ask nonchalantly.

"Pretty good. Gale said he wanted me to help support the family, so here I am." He replied, obviously bursting with excitement to be in the Woods.

"Do you know how to set snares yet?" I say in the same cool tone as before.

"Yeah, the simple snare. That's it so far." he says sadly.

"Can you shoot a bow, or use a knife?"

"Just a knife. I don't think I want to shoot arrows. I won't be as good as you are." he says, hoping to suck up to me.

"Haha, well, why don't you show Catnip what you can do," says Gale, finally showing himself. He's actually pretty good at blending into the shadows. "I'll make a target out of berry juice on that tree."

Rory takes 3 knives out of Gale's bag, and got ready to throw it at the makeshift target.

"Ready, Rory?" Gale asks.

"Yeah!" he mock-whispers. He's so oblivious.

Every single knife is within the center circle.

I try to hide my shock and laughter. He's going to be fine.

"Nice. Okay, do you know how to climb trees?" I ask.

"No. Can you teach me?"

"Okay. First rule: always keep three points of contact with the tree. Second rule. Know your height limit, or branch thickness limit." I say awkwardly. I've never been good at teaching anyone about anything. And I've always been horrible at being friendly and open like this.

"Got it. Three points. Know my limit." he says, quite confident in his skills. He knows how hard it is to come by compliments from me, but his knifing deserved it. He starts to climb a sapling next to me, and gets to the second branch when he lets go with both his left arm and right leg. He falls and brushes himself off.

"Let me try again," he says pleadingly.

"Nobody's stopping you," I say, surprised that he asked my permission.

He zooms up the tree, remembering to stay in contact with the surface. He makes it about 30 or so feet up before looking down, then he stops.

"Keep going!" I shout, wondering what caused him to pause.

"I can't! It's too high!" he says.

Oh. He's that kind of guy.

"Okay, I'll come get you," I say.

"No, let me," Gale interjects. "He's my brother, and he shouldn't be that wimpy."

Gale scampers up the tree like the practiced monkey he is, and retrieves Rory from his resting spot.

"You're so cheeky. You need lots more practice," Gale says scoldingly. "Find a smaller tree."

"Aww, come on!" Rory complains.

"Third rule: don't look down. Only look out," I say, laughing a little.

"It wasn't that funny!" he says, starting to get upset.

"Hey, relax, kid. Try this one again," Gale says soothingly. That's what I like about him.

Rory scrambles up the tree, acting cocky again. "I can do this!" he shouts, as he reaches the spot he got stuck at last time.

"Quiet down, Rory," Gale says.

Rory keeps going, oblivious that he probably just scared away all the game within a half-mile radius. He makes it 50 feet or so before looking out across the trees.

"This is awesome!"

There goes the game in the rest of the mile.

He goes up another 50 feet before looking like he's panting.

"Come down!" Gale shouts. Sheesh, I guess today is amateurism day.

"Okay," I hear him say.

The rest of the day is uneventful, except for the fact that Rory throws a knife at a deer and take it down. That just adds to the amount of money we've been saving.

Rory runs to the deer, and I walk with Gale so I can ask him something.

"Did you tell Rory we plan to leave?" I say.

"No, why would I do that?"

"Because you're Gale, and you're exactly like me, you protect your family," I say.

"But in this case it would only serve to harm them. They would try to dissuade us from leaving," he says, and that's the last we can talk about it, because we reach Rory then.

"Check it out! The knife went right through the left leg!" Rory says, clearly excited.

"So the deer's not dead?" Gale asks.

"I think it got knocked out from the blood loss and impact with the ground," I say quietly.

"You're probably right. If you stab it through the eye, will it die?" Rory asks.

"It probably won't. We should spear it through the lungs," Gale says.

Well, since when does our little buddy here have a spear?

Gale pulls out a spear - really, where did he get that? Did he make it? - and puts it right through the deer's lungs. I swear I can see the life fading out of the deer.

"Where did you get that spear?" I ask suspiciously.

"I made it out of wood. Why?" Gale shoots back.

"Because I didn't know you could use a spear," I say, embarrassed.

"Well, nobody did, because nobody in 12 has a spear," he says like I'm stupid.

"Oh, I thought all the houses were equipped with twenty spears," I say sarcastically.

"Hey, hey, let's not fight," Rory says, clearly nervous that his mentors are fighting.

"Rory's right. We should get back and trade in this deer," Gale and I say at almost the same time. I blush and look up at him. His jaw is locked, and he looks mad.

_Later, at the Hob:_

"What?" Gale exclaims, not happy about the offer we're getting for the deer.

"It was taken down by the amateur. I get a discount for that," Greasy Sae says.

We've known Greasy Sae for a long time, and she's just tough. Her first price is her final price. No negotiations.

It's too bad, because that was one of the larger deer I've seen this season.

A/N: Sorry, it's a lame ending. But as one of my fave fanfic authors said, you can't have a cliffhanger at the end of each chapter!


	2. Chapter 2

_Back in the woods, 130th day:_

"So, are you ready?" Gale asks me. Or maybe it's Rory. He's standing behind me. I still can't really tell the difference between their voices yet.

"Ready for what?" I ask nonchalantly.

"There are only 20 days left. You have to know what I mean," he says, and now I know it's Gale.

"Yeah, I'm ready. You?" I ask. To tell the truth, I'm as nervous as a 12-year-old tribute called up to the stage.

"Definitely. Do you have enough money?"

"Why wouldn't I? Do you have enough food?"

"Seriously. I thought we knew each other enough to stop asking these kinds of questions," Gale says with a laugh.

I laugh, too. "Is Rory ready to handle the need for food?"

"Again with the questions! Have we lost trust or something?" Gale says, and we fall into a nervous fit of laughter. The tension must be getting to us.

We decide to hunt, and get a deer, a gallon or so of strawberries, and five or six fish. I leave the katniss roots behind for later. When we get to the Hob, it's desolate. There's practically nobody there except for the shop keepers. We get decent prices for the deer, sell about a fourth of the strawberries, and Greasy Sae takes all of our fish for a good price. We go to Mayor Undersee's house, and sell him the rest of the strawberries.

_149th day, around midnight:_

I hear Prim whimpering. Nightmares? That doesn't sound right, it's half a year before the next- Oh. The tribute tours. That's right.

I, myself have not been able to sleep. I keep re-checking the list of things I need in the morning.

Paper - yes.

Bow and arrows - yes, in the woods.

Money - yes, in the pouch.

Charcoal to write with - yes.

Food - yes, Gale should have it.

Feeling of homesickness - yes.

I think I'm good.

I eventually twist off into an unrestful sleep in Nightmare Land.

_Six hours later:_

When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold. My fingers stretch out, seeking Prim's warmth but finding only the rough canvas cover of the mattress. She must have had bad dreams and climbed in with our mother. Of course, she did. Today is the day of the tribute tours.

Even though Marquis Ebenshade won, that doesn't mean she won't have nightmares. I wish that during the Games she would just sit in her room and do something else so that these demons don't haunt her.

I get dressed, and start to write a note on the paper with my charcoal. What am I supposed to write?

_Dear Prim,_

_I don't know what to say. This is hard for me._

_We're leaving. Gale and I are going to live in the woods. Rory knows how to hunt now. If you need us, he knows where to find us. Find a job as the medical assistant. I've left you plenty of money, and the Hawthornes should have food for you._

_Don't tell our mother anything. Destroy this in the fire as soon as you've memorized as much of it as you want. Don't take this as a joke. It's time for you to be strong, duck. You need to be the big duck around here, not the little one anymore._

_I love you more than the sun loves the sky, I love you more than the arrows love the bow. Stay strong, little duck._

_Love forever,_

_Katniss_


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Recap time! Last time, we finished with Katniss' note to Prim. It's currently 6 o'clock in the morning. Katniss is dressed and getting ready to leave. Let's rejoin her, shall we? Be warned, there is one profanity in this chapter ;) just an FYI. Thank you for reading! ONA**

I grab my jacket and walk out the door. I turn around and take one last glance at my home. It's the place that I've lived for almost two decades.

It's no time to get nostalgic, I remind myself.

Speaking of years, how are we going to keep track of time?

Nevermind. I'm not sure I want to measure how far away I am from my little duckling.

I slowly walk away, then quicken to a slight jog. Finally I break out into a run.

I reach the fence and listen for the tell-tale hum of electricity. There is none. I sneak under the hole in the fence (I'm getting too big for it.) and go a little farther in the woods to get my bow and arrows. I scale a tree that has a good view of the fence and wait for Gale.

I don't have to wait long. The sun is just barely over the horizon (decorated by the Victor's Village) when Gale's form is a shadow climbing over the fence. I wait for him to get a bit further into the forest before I leap down from the tree.

Gale jumps back in surprise, tripping over a tree root. "Holy shit, Katniss." He gives a shaky laugh.

"What, you thought I wouldn't be here already?" I ask with a smile.

"No, you just scared me. I didn't think you would jump from a tree. But I knew you would get me somehow. You always do," He says, and he's smiling now too.

"Ready to go?" I ask.

"Of course. Are you?"

No. "Yes. I left a note for Prim. Did you leave one for Rory, Vick, and Posy?"

"Aw, I should've thought of that! Idiot," he muttered. "I gotta go back!"

"No, Gale, you can't! If you go back now, you'll never be able to go off with me into the woods. Just stay, okay?"

"Katniss. They're everything to me. If I don't explain, I-I-" he chokes and has to sit down.

"You need to stay here."

"No! I'm going back. I couldn't bear to go on if they were heartbroken," he sobs.

"If you go back, then you would see how sad they could be that you were gone. Then you wouldn't be able to go on and you'd have to stay there. We can't leave the forest now! Besides, Rory knows where the lake is. If they need help, he can come get us," I conclude.

I can see the agony in his eyes, but he stays put. "Fine," he manages.

"Let's get moving," I say.

"Okay," he says, standing up.

We hike back to the lake, which takes about an hour. Luckily, when Panem was established, they left this little cabin and lake behind. We walk inside the cabin and plop down our rucksacks.

"I'm going for a swim. Are you coming?" Gale asks as he takes off his sweaty shirt.

"Pass. I need to organize the supplies and other things we brought,"

"Okay. It's really refreshing!" He's trying to convince me to swim with him. But it's too late, I've already started to unpack our bags. I know what I have in mine, and I organize it onto the few shelves and cupboards the cabin has in about ten minutes.

The first things I find in Gale's bag are messy charcoal drawings that were probably drawn by his siblings. How did he manage to get them without them knowing he was leaving? The first is the messiest, and looks like it was supposed to be Gale and whichever of the three holding hands and playing with some sort of dolls. I'm guessing this is Posy's. The next one was a picture of what can only be described as a small train. I think it was a car, and it had Gale's name next to it, probably Vick's. The third one had a dead rabbit on it. Charming Rory.

_flashback:_

_"Hey, will you guys draw me some pictures?" he asks of the three children sitting around him. They all immediately jump up and get small pieces of coal and some home-made paper, and start scribbling images._

_"Gayew, Gayew, guess what I'm dwawing you!" shouts the youngest, a girl._

_"Posy, Posy, what are you drawing me?" he shouts back, with a twinkle in his eye and a grin on his face._

_"I'm dwawing us pwaying dows!" she shouts again._

_"I love to play dolls with you!" he says, picking her up and tossing her in the air. He then catches her and gives her a hug, and a kiss on the forehead. She makes a disgusted face, and starts to squeal. He sets her down and she runs away, presumably to their mother._

_"Vick, what are you drawing?" the oldest boy says to the youngest boy, who's making some sort of engine-like noise._

_"I'm drawing a RACECAR!" he says, then continues to make the 'vroom' noises. The eldest boy joins in, but is told that he's not making the noises right. He moves on to the second oldest child._

_"Rory, what do you have there?" he asks. The boy has drawn a very good representation of a rabbit, except for all of the smudge marks._

_"It's the rabbit you brought home yesterday," the boy whispers, knowing that if a Peacekeeper heard, the oldest boy would be arrested and whipped._

_"That's really good," replies the eldest. The second boy just nods modestly and gets back to work on his masterpiece. The first boy sighs and exits to his room._

**A/N: So, what do you think? How is this escapade going so far? Any ideas you want to see implemented? Is this too long or too short of a chapter? I NEED FEEDBACK. And don't forget, the more reviews, follows, favorites, etc., the sooner and/or faster it will be updated!**

**ONA**


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